English Tea Shop Secures £1.45M in Financing to Fund Growth

The English Tea Shop, an independent 100% organic tea business has secured a six-figure finance package from HSBC UK, helping it import increased quantities of ethically-sourced tea from Sri Lanka and facilitate its global growth plans. HSBC Bank plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.

English Tea Shop, which supplies sustainable and ethical artisan teas, blends and packs its tea at its Sri Lankan factory before importing to its main warehouse in Wickford, UK, as well as to a number of other smaller sites. The teas are then distributed worldwide to gourmet and specialty markets in over 50 countries.

English Tea Shop’s teas and ingredients come from small farmers in limited quantities, grown without chemical fertilisers or pesticides. It pays a premium on top of the Fairtrade price of tea to make sure its farmers can continue to farm in the most sustainable way possible.

English Tea Shop is using a £1 million invoice finance package and a £450,000 trade limit from HSBC to increase its importing capabilities, which the team hopes will also increase turnover by an estimated 20 percent in 2018.

“We have set some ambitious goals [for ourselves] for the next few years, including expanding our global reach and continuing to grow as a truly sustainable business, both of which HSBC has been instrumental in supporting,” says Suranga Herath, chief executive at English Tea Shop. “Small farmers and suppliers make a huge impact on sustaining the planet’s natural eco system and this finance deal has enabled us to import even more and continue supporting ethical producers.”

English Tea Shop has demonstrated an average year-on-year growth of more than 20 percent since its founding in 2010. The company’s customer base has also evolved, from small independent retailers and hotels to leading multinational organisations.